Xiaomi is just one and half year old brand for India and it took only one year to beat all other old and big brands just because of their business model, price, quality, and MIUI. The service of Xiaomi in India is not that much good as all other big brands but still they are doing their level best to give the best, at least, they have exclusive service centers in India. I have bought all Xiaomi India products and none of them required to visit a service center to date.
The first device they launched in India was the MI3 and I got it in the first sale and it still works like the new device. The Redmi Note 3 ( Snapdragon) is the latest Note device they have in the International market right now, as they have already launched Redmi Note 2, Redmi Note 2 Prime and the Redmi Note 3 in outside India market but they all have the MediaTek processor and they have been prohibited from sale these MediaTek phones in India due to some patent issues.
So they launched the Redmi Note Prime with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 410 ( which is not outdated yet but also not for the power user) especially for the Indians and Made in India and most users liked it but some power users didn't like this effort, Xiaomi heard their voice too and now we have Redmi Note 3 Snapdragon variant especially for the Indians and Made in India, powerful than all its MediaTek variants with starting price tag of Rs 9999 only for 2GB/16GB and 11999 for the 3GB/32GB model..
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UPDATE( 06-04-2016)
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Xiaomi playing a trick here to sell 16GB variant, there was no 32GB variant in last sales but it was available in today's sale also in dark grey variant again it won't be there in next sale.
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UPDATE( 31-03-2016)
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For now data( 3G/2G) doesn't work on BSNL and MTNL sims with this device, there is not even E/H sign, I have also visited the service center and they said, there are many complaints regarding it and the developer team figuring out the issue and will provide the solution via OTA( Over the Air update) soon but how much time it will take to fix this issue nobody knows. There was an update MIUI 7.2.2 which has new feature app lock using fingerprint but this no data on BSNL and MTNL issue not fixed yet.
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UPDATE( 15-03-2016)
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I bought two of these devices, both 16GB variant but one is Dark Grey color and another one is Gold color the weird thing I found between these two is, Dark Grey I got was labeled as Made in India with big red sticker on the box but Gold labeled as Made in China in very small fonts on the bottom sticker of the box. I'm attaching pictures of both for better understanding.
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PROS:
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MADE IN INDIA ( Check the image)
MIUI, the MI user interface one of the most customizable, powerful, features packed android user interface. You get almost everything a smartphone user needs without the help of any third-party apps.
Very simple and sleek design, Overall good build quality, fully metal made, available in many colors and only ~ 72.4% screen-to-body ratio. ( added pictures)
Radio and IR blaster and USB OTG support.
Fast and accurate fingerprint scanner.
Stunning 13.97cm ( 5.5) Full HD IPS display. ( Bigger the display more the productivity.)
Fast 2GB and 3GB Dual Channel RAM with fast 16GB/32GB Flash memory.
Redmi Note 3 has a Qualcomm's Snapdragon 650 64 bit CPU with two A72 cores and four A53 cores to carry out intensive tasks at once while completing simpler tasks in the background to save on battery life.
Adreno 510 graphics processor supports DirectX, OpenCL, FlexRender and other PC gaming technologies for a richer gaming support and experience.
The Menu, Home, and Back keys are white backlit keys. ( Check the image)
4G, Dual sim and supports all bands in India.
The excellent output from the 3.5mm jack, all you need is a good pair of earphone. I tested it with XB70AP.
Big 4050 mAh high-capacity battery coupled with power efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor and the battery saving features of MIUI makes it one of the most longer battery life smartphone.
16MP rear camera | 5MP front camera are not the best camera but it performs better than many phones and best at this price tag.
Bundled with good quality 2 amp charger.
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CONS:
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Does NOT have Corning Gorilla/Dragontail or any kind of glass protection( can be solved using a tempered glass) .
Hybrid slot for the Micro SD and 2nd sim card.
No NFC, No USB type-C.
No Quick Charge 2.0( It has old previous generation fast charging) .
Nonremovable battery.
The speaker is placed on the back side and the output from the speaker in all Xiaomi phones is average or below average in this case this phone won't be audible in the noisy environment and from the another room.
Locked Bootloader and Long, very long wait for the kernel sources.
Limited availability, Can be bought in flash sales only for now.
Very limited availability of 3GB/32GB variant.
MIUI is the heavily customized android, and because of it takes ages to update their base, right now it MIUI 7.1 comes with the base of Android Lolipop and there will be a long wait for the Android Marshmallows.
Now there are other devices like Lenovo K4 Note and LeTV Le 1s in the market with similar price tag and specifications in the market, Let's see who wins the battle.
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Redmi Note 3 over K4 Note and Le 1s:
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Redmi Note 3 is Made In India but K4 Note and L1 1s are Made in China
Redmi Note 3 has better Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 SoC but both K4 Note and L1 1s has MediaTek.
Redmi Note 3 has better 16MP primary camera sensor but K4 Note and L1 1s has 13MP primary camera sensor
Redmi Note 3 has larger 4050 mAh battery but K4 Note and L1 1s has around 3000 mAh battery.
Redmi Note 3 has clean MIUI( One of the full featured and best custom android) but K4 Note and Le 1s ships with a Bloated OS at times it lags.
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K4 Note over Redmi Note 3 and Le 1s:
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Sound quality, yes Lenovo K4 sounds louder than both of these devices. It has the dual front facing speakers. Le 1s has a bottom facing speakers and Redmi Note 3 again comes with a back facing speaker with a little bump.
K4 Note comes with VR mode which device screen in two parts for the VR headset.
K4 Note dual sim phone with MicroSD card slot but Redmi Note 3 uses a hybrid slot for sim and MicroSD but Le 1s has fixed 32GB flash memory.
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Le 1s over Redmi Note 3 and K4 note:
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Built quality, yes Le 1s has the best-built quality among these three devices, The Le 1s has a full-metal unibody that feels really premium in this price range but Redmi Note 3 also has great built quality but it doesn't have known screen protection, both Le 1s and Redmi Note 3 are made of full metal but K4 note has a plastic back.
Le 1s has USB Type-C port, MHL 2.0 support but K4 note Redmi Note 3 comes with old Micro USB.
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K4 Note and Le 1s both over Redmi Note 3:
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- Screen protection, yes here Redmi Note 3 fails. Both K4 Note and Le 1s comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and there is no known protection in Redmi Note 3.
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Redmi Note 3 and Le 1s over K4 Note:
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- Both Redmi Note 3 and Le 1s has IR blaster and Radio but K4 note doesn't have it.
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VERDICT:
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Overall this phone is the beast I must say at this price tag, It clearly beats all other phones in same mid-budget segment. Redmi Note 3 has everything a flagship device can have today. You can not demand more in this mid-budget segment. Everyone who is looking a smartphone under 15k, Go for it.
PS: I am providing some pictures of the product( some pics belongs to dark grey color) for better understanding as A picture can speak a Thousand words( I already wrote more than 500 words) .
